RICHARD WALTER HAUPT, 95, died January 25, 2025, at St. Elizabeth Healthcare, Edgewood, Ky He was born July 27, 1929, at Bethesda Hospital, Cincinnati.
He grew up in Ludlow, Kentucky, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati.
Richard had a long and satisfying professional career in the fields of state and local history and historic preservation. This was work he loved doing and he was uniquely suited for it.
In 1951 he graduated from Hanover College in southern Indiana. He was a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.
His senior year he represented Hanover College at a history conference at Spring Mill State Park. There he met Eli Lilly of Lilly Pharmaceuticals. When Dick told him he was going to Indiana University graduate school for a master's degree in history, but needed a job too, Mr. Lilly said he would arrange employment for him at the Indiana Historical Society.
His job as field historian was to visit Indiana high schools to introduce a new state history program. He sang folksongs and told history stories. He drove 30,000 miles in 2 years. This new program, the Indiana Junior Historical Society, is thriving today.
In 1953, at Indiana University, he wrote his master's thesis on "The History of French Lick Hotel and Springs." It was well-received as original research of this landmark resort in southern Indiana.
He was drafted into the U. S. Army. He was scheduled to go to Korea when army personnel discovered he could type. He spent the Korean War at Fort Benning, Georgia -- typing. He was the only boy in the typing class at Ludlow High School in 1947.
In the army he was also an information and education officer. He taught American history to officers and soldiers at the University of Georgia Extension. His most popular course, which he created, was "The History of the United States Army."
In 1955. after discharge from service, he was hired as Director of the Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical Society and Museum. Here he helped lay the groundwork for the reconstruction of the Old Fort, the original fort from 1818, named for General Anthony Wayne.
He was part of the Save the Dunes campaign to make the sand dunes along Lake Michigan a part of the National Park Service. He wrote a song for Save the Dunes. Because he was a talented folksinger, he got to perform his song at a big rally, along with Pete Seeger and Carl Sandburg. He was pleased to be asked to carry Mr. Sandburg's guitar. Carl Sandburg was his hero.
He left Fort Wayne to attend The Ohio State University to study for a PhD in American history. His doctoral dissertation was titled "The Early History of the Ohio Historical Society." He also worked at the Ohio Historical Society as a manuscripts specialist.
In 1966 he was employed as Director of the Cincinnati Historical Society. He reached a large and appreciative audience with his daily telling of a vignette of Cincinnati history on WKRC radio.
In 1972 he moved to Washington DC where he was Director for Education at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. As part of this important work, he produced the National Preservation Conference, held each year in a major American city.
In 1994 Dick and his wife Joyce returned to their hometown to live in the family home in Kenton Hills in Covington, Kentucky.
He is survived by his wife Joyce Scully, a native of Cincinnati; nephew Eric Haupt, Seattle; niece Julie Haupt, Bennington, Vt.; niece Leslie Haupt, Cincinnati.
He was predeceased by his brother Conrad "Bud" Haupt, a Cincinnati City Planner; his mother Lucille Richards Haupt and his father Reverend. Walter H. Haupt.
Richard Walter Haupt, 1929-2025, reposes in the Scully family plot at New St. Joseph Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio.
